Layers of Meaning

Shrek: Ogres are like onions.

Donkey: They stink?

Shrek: Yes. No.

Donkey: Oh, they make you cry.
Shrek: NO. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.

Now, I would never compare Shakespeare to an ogre but someone's previous comment about Shakespeare's language having many layers reminded me of this scene from Shrek.

Shakespeare's plays are like onions. Every time you read a play you have to peel back layer after layer of meaning, whether it be uncovering sonnets or understanding inappropriate jokes. This is why I think some people have a tough time with Shakespeare (the de-layering takes too long. Just say what you want to say!) and yet at the same time I think this is why some people, like me, become addicted to Shakespeare; uncovering the layers is like a game! And once you understand it you feel as though you're on the inside of some joke that no one else gets, which is always a good feeling.

As for Much Ado About Nothing there are three new components I have unlayered this year while reading with my four classes:

1. Claudio and Hero are both referred to as oranges. Beatrice describes Claudio's grumpy yet civil personality at the party to be like an orange. She plays on the word civil meaning both its literal meaning - polite - and referencing Seville, Spain known for an orange that is both sweet and sour: polite and grumpy. Later on, Claudio refers to Hero at the wedding scene when he believes she has cheated on him and yells at Leonato "give not this rotten orange to your friend!"

2. Benedick and Beatrice's friends both use fish imagery when describing how they will trick each of them into falling in love with the other. Claudio says, "Bait the hook well this fish will bite!" If you rearrange the word order I can easily see someone saying this today, 400 years later. Later on Ursula says of Beatrice, "The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish... greedily devour the trecherous bait." In each instance the bait is the lie Benedick and Beatrice overhear their friends gossiping about - that they are both madly in love with one another.

3. Shakespeare has a motif of illness running through the play... Its EVERYWHERE! One of my poor classes had to sit through a whole period of this: everytime a character mentioned a word that had to do with illness I would shout it out, "suffer!" "cure!" "restore you to health" "are you well?" It went on...and on... and ON. Now, why would Shakespeare do this? After much thought my guess is that he's trying to reinforce the idea of love sickness - that love causes one's behavior to change so rapidly that it is as if the person has been taken ill.

QUESTION: Name a book or movie you have seen that upon the 2nd or 3rd reading/viewing you noticed something that you had not before.